NATO Secretary General Visits Georgia
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| NATO Secretary General and the Georgian President will hold a joint news briefing later today. Photo by NATO |
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has scheduled meetings with President Mikhail Saakashvili, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili, Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze, Ambassadors of the NATO member states accredited in Georgia and representatives from the non-governmental organizations in country.
According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Georgian-NATO relations and the current situation in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will top the agenda during the talks between Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and the Georgian leadership.
“The IPAP has been approved, now it’s time to start its implementation. We will also discuss Georgia-NATO relations in general,” Salome Zourabichvili told reporters on November 3.
The North Atlantic Council, which is the decision-making body of NATO, approved the Individual Partnership Action Plan of Georgia (IPAP) on October 29. The plan, which establishes specific defense reform goals for Georgia which will be implemented with the help of NATO, was submitted to the organization by President Saakashvili during his visit to Brussels in April.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia is confident that upon the successful implementation of the Individual Partnership Action Plan, Georgia will ascend to the Membership Action Plan (MAP),” reads the statement issued by the Georgian Foreign Ministry on October 29.
The decision by NATO to endorse Georgia’s IPAP was described by President Mikheil Saakashvili as the country’s “first concrete step towards the way to integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures.” But, while speaking at the session of the National Security Council on October 29, Saakashvili also added that Georgia will not host any foreign country’s military base.
Details of Georgia’s IPAP still remain unknown, as the Georgian authorities have not publicized the document as of yet.
In a final Communique published on June 28, following sessions of the North Atlantic Council in Istanbul, Turkey, NATO member states agreed to put special focus on the Caucasus and Central Asia.
To implement this decision Robert Simmons, a special representative for these two regions, has been appointed. Simmons is also NATO’s Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Security Cooperation and Partnership.
In addition, two NATO liaison officers, who will be in close cooperation with the NATO’s special envoy, will be permanently stationed in each of the two regions. Robert Simmons said in September that the NATO liaison officer in the Caucasus will be stationed in Tbilisi and will work closely with the Georgian Defense Ministry.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian)
